Finding Josephine

I had a chance to visit the Whitney Plantation museum in Edgard, Louisiana on Sunday, the first in the United States to focus exclusively on slavery. The visit was an emotional 180 after celebrating a very different kind of history the day before - my 30th High School Reunion. … [Read more...]

In the binders in my office that are full of my family's history, I keep lists of things to follow up on. Recently I checked something off the top of one such follow-up list that might help shed some light on what happened to my great, great-grandmother's enslaved family.
The … [Read more...]

President Donald Trump's comments earlier this week lauding the seventh president Andrew Jackson reminded me of a document I recently found at the Library of Congress website while trying to track down anything about my great, great grandmother Tempy Burton's family. The … [Read more...]

Remember earlier this month when Ben Carson equated immigrants and slaves? My ancestors are both, and Literary Hub published my essay where I explore the differences in the context of my family's history. … [Read more...]

Yesterday's New York Times article "A Glimpse Into the Life of a Slave Sold to Georgetown" reminded me just how much genealogy is a group effort. It took a network of people, from descendants of the enslaved and slave owners to historians and archivists to get that remarkable … [Read more...]